Families were confusing because Connor knew how they were supposed to go, and he was pretty sure that most of his family’s problems were related to not having a family the way they were supposed to be had. Proper families had a mother and a father and a number of children that was appropriate to their resources. Connor’s family did not have those things, because his mother had died when he was very young. They had a step-mother and a step-sister, but they didn’t really count because they weren’t really a part of the family. Rose didn’t like them which meant Dade didn’t like them, and Connor was ambivalent. Honestly, he wasn’t sure how much their father liked their step-mother. Of all of his children, their father was closest to Connor and even then they weren’t particularly close. It was just that Connor believed in the same things that his father did, and he suspected that his father found that relieving, after Rose.

Therefore, it didn’t particularly bother him that Drew made a jab about his family, although he was mildly confused as to how Drew would know such a thing.

“My father is not in a position to be a role model for children,” Connor pointed out, logically. Although, he supposed, technically a father could be a role model for his own children. Connor sometimes considered his father a role model, but not when it came to how he ran his family. “Also, real fathers don’t bake,” he added. “That’s something for mothers or house-elves.” Depending on the family, although Connor would personally be quite surprised if Drew’s family had a house-elf. Or well, perhaps they could use the RMI elves. That made more sense, as Connor assumed that the house-elves still took care of the school even on breaks and things. Some people opted to stay during the winter break although most, like Connor, went home to their families. “Real fathers do things like run businesses or have other jobs, or teach you things about how to be an adult,” those were all things his father did. “My father plays chess with me, and sometimes takes me to events,” now that was a little bit of bragging; over the winter, Connor’s father had taken him to an event with lots of other purebloods, most of whom were quite a bit older than Connor. It had been a little uncomfortable, but Connor had been very pleased that he had gotten to go. Rose had never gone to anything like that, he was pretty sure, and Dade was too young.

Connor had decided to be condescending to Drew, which the first-year decided he really didn’t like at all. The older student was just making things up! That was really dumb and rude. “You don’t even... more

Connor was wrong and stupid and Drew wasn’t good enough at arguing to tell him why. “Your dad is supposed to be a role model for you,” he said, to start with. All fathers were in a position to be... more

Connor flushed a dark, angry red. He knew Marley was bad. He knew Marley was very bad, and quite honestly he didn’t know how Claudia could deal with her but what this conversation with Drew was... more

There were a couple of seconds before Drew really processed what Connor had said. Then Drew clenched his fists. No one had ever actually said it about his family before as far as Drew could remember, ... more

Drew decided, apparently, that it was a good idea to fully demonstrate just how awful he was because not only did Drew choose to use an absolutely rude word towards Connor, but he also bludgeoned... more

Drew was almost at the stairs. He was hoping that the stairs wouldn’t screw up today and mess up his exit. They had messed up a few times for Dade lately. The older boy would go up the stairs to the... more

It was about three seconds between the words leaving Connor’s mouth and Drew practically running toward him to hit him. At first, Connor was shocked. He had never actually been hit before, not like... more

On the upside, Drew was able to punch Connor for longer than he thought he was going to be able to. He had only meant to hit him once, but then he had realized that Connor might hit back if he had... more

Aaron wasn’t exactly sure what he had been expecting when he asked the boys what had happened, but he was pretty sure that it was on the level of what Connor had said. Well, not directly - Drew... more

Connor was still crying a little bit but he was no longer actively being punched, so his tears were starting to subside, although his sniffling wasn’t. He was embarrassed to be crying in front of the ... more

Drew did not land super gracefully when Aaron let the spell down, but after a stumble he regained his footing and obediently went to Aaron’s office. Okay so this wasn’t going great , but things could ... more